Tuesday, June 03, 2003

"An Eye Blink for an Eye Blink" David Kadlec closes his Eye Blink Gallery, Published June 3, 2003 in NUVO

By Mary Lee PappasPublished in NUVO June 3, 2003

David Kadlec closed his gallery, Eye Blink, after the exhibit of Sam Sartorious’ paintings, Up All Night, came down at the end of last month. Kadlec opened the space after the Faris Building, where he had a studio for 11 years, was sold to Lilly.

“When I left the Faris I had the chance to get this specific space. The gallery came of this place,” Kadlec explains of his Murphy Building gallery.

“I could show my work and other people’s work. It was such a spontaneous thing. It wasn’t like I was always thinking, jeez, I should have a gallery.

“Everything seemed to point to it in that moment.”

Ending Eye Blink is, in essence, an eye blink, too. “Naming Eye Blink was not the end of it. It happens all the time in life. This is absolutely a continuation of that process of paying very deep attention to what it is that excites me and what I need to do,” Kadlec said of closing the gallery to take the next step in his life.

“What I’ve known for some time is that I needed to devote my time to fighting for the planet, for clean air, clean water and for a sustainable relationship between humans and the planet. I’ve had this sense for a long time. This is part of my call to action for myself. I don’t even know what that’s going to look like for me.”

Initially, it means spending time at his family’s cabin in central Minnesota, the state where he grew up. “I want to spend some time up there and watch the spring and summer unfold a bit, go swimming every day, make some new art and think about life. And those are things you can do all at the same time!” Kadlec explains, “I feel this delicious sort of openness about all of it. I trust it all. My job is to keep my heart open and my eyes open and respond to what I’m feeling inside.”

Coming back to Indianapolis isn’t out of the equation either.

“I’m proud of this place,” Kadlec said about Eye Blink. “It’s been a great effort and a lot of fun. To elevate my own work and get it in front of people is the coolest thing I’ve ever done. The whole thing has been about love. Now I think there is something cooler for me to do.”

He’s elevated Todd Lantz, Matt Davey and Terry Steadman along the way, too, and received great joy from their art. “They are doing astounding work. Communicating so, so beautifully and so clearly.”

Unforgettably poetic and lyrical shows of outstanding quality (Kyle Blevins, Doug Travis and Karen Thompson particularly) have been some of Kadlec’s gifts to our arts community.

Painter Keith J. Hampton will be doing something cool of his own when he debuts his new gallery, It’s All Art, in the old Eye Blink space during the next Murphy Building open house June 6.